Grantee Name: | Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, Fairbanks, AK |
Project Name: | Fairbanks Teaching American History Project |
Project Director: | Sandy McGill (907) 452-2000 |
Funding: | $499,963 |
Number of Teachers Served: | 34 |
Number of School Districts Served: | 1 |
Number of Students Served: | 6,996 |
Located in an isolated, mostly rural community in the heart of interior Alaska, the school district is partnering with the National Council for History Education, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks History Department, the University of Alaska Museum, and the Tanana-Yukon Historical Society to improve the instruction of traditional American history in district middle and high schools. Partners will offer a series of related colloquia, workshops, and study groups to 60 participants who will practice history's "habits of the mind," read primary source documents, interact with historians and master teachers, and produce standards-based U.S. history lessons. The project will focus on the three foundation documents of our country: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The project will then trace the application of these documents' principles to six major eras of U.S. history: the Revolution and the New Nation (1763-1815); Expansion and Reform (1801-1861); Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877); the Development of Modern America (1865-1920); Modern America and the World Wars (1914-1945); and Contemporary America (1945 - present). Core ideas will also be linked to Alaska's history.